Limb of archery bow

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a limb of an archery bow for eliminating problems involved in a conventional limb having a flat strip structure exhibiting an insufficient stability and an insufficient shooting speed. The disclosed limb includes wood layers, carbon layers, and fiber glass layers and has a concave or convex arc-shaped cross-sectional structure outwardly or inwardly gently bent in a longitudinal direction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a limb of an archery bow, andmore particularly to a limb of an archery bow which exhibits an increasein torsion strength and bending strength, thereby achieving anenhancement in stability and shooting speed.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Referring to FIG. 1, an archery bow for archery games isillustrated. As shown in FIG. 1, the archery bow typically includes abow body 1, a pair of limbs 2 detachably coupled to upper end lower endsof the bow body 1, and a bowstring 3 coupled at both ends thereof to thelimbs 2.

[0005] When an archer nocks an arrow onto the bowstring 3, and thendraws the bowstring 3 using the arrow, the upper and lower limbs 2 areelastically bent. When the archer nocks releases the arrow, thebowstring 3 returns immediately to its original state by virtue of theresilience of the limbs 2, thereby shooting the arrow to a target.

[0006] In such an archery bow having the above mentioned configuration,the limbs serve as main means for shooting an arrow. The structure ofthese limbs directly have influence on the shooting speed and stabilityof the arrow, and the resistance to vibrations occurring immediatelyafter the shooting of the arrow.

[0007]FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a conventionallimb. The limb, which is denoted by the reference numeral 2, isdetachably coupled to one end of the bow body 1 by means of a couplingscrew 4.

[0008]FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the lineA-A of FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 3, the limb has a multilayer structurecomposed of wood layers 5, carbon layers 6, and fiber glass layers 7symmetrically arranged with respect to the centerline of the structurethickness.

[0009] The reason why the limb has a multilayer structure is to obtainan increase in bending strength and torsion strength. The bendingstrength is directly related with the shooting speed of the arrow. Thetorsion strength is directly related with the stability of the limbexhibited immediately after the bowstring is released from a tensedstate. That is, the torsion strength is directly related with the targethitting rate.

[0010] However, the conventional limb structure cannot have optimizedbending and torsion strengths because its cross-sectional shape isrectangular.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the abovementioned problem involved in the conventional limb, and an object ofthe invention is to provide a limb of an archery bow which has anarc-shaped multilayer cross-sectional structure composed of wood layers,carbon layers, and fiber glass layers, so that it obtains an increase inbending strength and torsion strength, thereby being capable ofachieving an enhancement in the resistance to vibrations occurring whenan arrow is shot, an improvement in stability, and an enhancement inshooting speed.

[0012] In accordance with the present invention, this object isaccomplished by providing a limb for an archery bow including woodlayers, carbon layers, and fiber glass layers, the limb having a concaveor convex arc-shaped cross-sectional structure outwardly or inwardlygently bent in a longitudinal direction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The above objects, and other features and advantages of thepresent invention will become more apparent after a reading of thefollowing detailed description when taken in conjunction with thedrawings, in which:

[0014]FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional archerybow;

[0015]FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a conventionallimb;

[0016]FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the lineA-A of FIG. 2;

[0017]FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a limbaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0018]FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view taken along the line B-B ofFIG. 4;

[0019]FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view taken along the line B-B ofFIG. 4, illustrating the drawn state of a bowstring;

[0020]FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a limbaccording to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0021]FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view taken along the line C-C ofFIG. 7; and

[0022]FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view taken along the line C-C ofFIG. 7, illustrating the drawn state of a bowstring.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] Now, the present invention will be described in detail, inconjunction with embodiments illustrated in the annexed drawings.

[0024] In accordance with the present invention, a limb is providedwhich has a multilayer structure composed of wood layers, carbon layers,and fiber glass layers, and a concave or convex arc-shapedcross-sectional shape outwardly or inwardly gently bent in alongitudinal direction. In FIGS. 5, 6, 8, and 9, the wood layers, carbonlayers, and fiber glass layers are denoted by the reference numerals 5,6, and 7, respectively.

[0025]FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a limb of anarchery bow according to an embodiment of the present invention.Although the archery bow has upper and lower arc-shaped limbs, only onelimb, that is, the upper arc-shaped limb, is illustrated for thesimplicity of illustration because the upper and lower arc-shaped limbshave the same structure. In FIG. 4, the limb is denoted by the referencenumeral 8. In the case of FIG. 4, the limb has a concave arc-shapedcross-sectional shape outwardly gently bent in a longitudinal directionin accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0026]FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B B of FIG.4. FIG. 5 illustrates the state in which the bowstring denoted by thereference numeral 3 is not drawn yet. In this state, there is nodeformation generated at the arc-shaped limb 8. When the archer draws anarrow necked onto the bowstring 3 by 16 to 19 inches, the arc-shapedlimb 8 is deformed to be laterally flattened, as shown in FIG. 6, sothat it has an increased resilience.

[0027] When the archer abruptly releases the arrow after further drawingthe arrow nocked onto the bowstring 3 by about 30 inches, the arrow isshot at an increased speed by virtue of not only the longitudinalresilience of the arc-shaped limb 8 returning to the originallongitudinal state thereof, but also the lateral resilience of thearc-shaped limb 8 returning to the original cross-sectional shape.

[0028] FIGS. 7 to 9 illustrate a second embodiment of the presentinvention in which the arc-shaped limb 8 has a convex arc-shapedcross-sectional structure outwardly or inwardly gently bent in alongitudinal direction. The principle of this second embodiment is thesame as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 4.

[0029] As apparent from the above description, in accordance with thepresent invention, the limb has a concave or convex arc-shapedcross-sectional structure, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 9. By virtue of such astructure, the bowstring 3 is strongly tensed when the archer draws thebowstring 3 by about 16 to 19 inches. At this time, the arc-shaped limb8 is deformed to be laterally flattened, that is, to have an increasedradius of curvature. By virtue of the structure according to the presentinvention, the bowstring 3 is rather easily drawn within a range of 20to 30 inches.

[0030] When the archer releases the bowstring 3, the arc-shaped limb 8exhibits a longitudinal resilience allowing it to return to its originallongitudinal state and a lateral resilience allowing it to return to theoriginal cross-sectional shape, so that it provides effects ofincreasing its torsion and bending strengths and increasing the shootingspeed of the arrow.

[0031] Although the preferred embodiments of the invention have beendisclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art willappreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions arepossible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventionas disclosed in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A limb for an archery bow including wood layers,carbon layers, and fiber glass layers, the limb having a concave orconvex arc-shaped cross-sectional structure outwardly or inwardly gentlybent in a longitudinal direction.